11
History and Terminology
Silliman imagined he suffered from lethargy, vertigo, nervous disorders, and whatever else he could
think of. In common with other invalids, he regularly visited health spas like Saratoga Springs, New
York (at his mother’s expense), and he knew that such places were only for the rich. So his meeting
with Priestley moved him to decide to make the mineral-water cure available to the common people
(also at his mother’s expense).
In 1809, he set up his business with an apothecary named Darling, assembled apparatus to
impregnate 50 bottles of water a day, and opened two soda-water fountains in New York City,
one at the Tontine Coffee House and one at the City Hotel. The decor was hugely expensive
(a lot of gilt), and they only sold 70 glasses on opening day. But Darling was optimistic. A friend
of Priestley’s visited and declared that drinking the waters would prevent yellow fever. In spite of
Silliman’s hopes that the business would make him rich, by the end of the summer the endeavor
was a disastrous flop. It would be many more decades before the soda fountain became a cultural
icon in America!
Silliman cast around for some other way to make money. Two years earlier, he had analyzed the
contents of a meteor that had fallen on Weston, Connecticut, and this research had enhanced his
scientific reputation. So he decided to offer his services (as a geologist) to mining companies. His
degree had been in law: He was as qualified for geology as he was to be Yale professor of chemistry. The geology venture prospered, and by 1820 Silliman was in great demand for field trips, on
which he took his son, Benjamin, Jr. When he retired in 1853, his son took up where he had left
off, as professor of general and applied chemistry at Yale (this time, with a degree in the subject).
After writing a number of chemistry books and being elected to the National Academy of Sciences,
Benjamin, Jr., took up lucrative consulting posts, as his father had done, with the Boston City Water
Company and various mining enterprises.
In 1855, one of these asked him to research and report on some mineral samples from the new
Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. After several months work, Benjamin, Jr., announced that about
50% of the black tar-like substance could be distilled into first-rate burning oils (which would eventually be called kerosene and paraffin) and that an additional 40% of what was left could be distilled
for other purposes, such as lubrication and gaslight. On the basis of this single report, a company
was launched to finance the drilling of the Drake Well at Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, and in 1857 it
became the first well to produce petroleum. It would be another 50 years before Silliman’s reference to other fractions available from the oil through extra distillation would provide gasoline for
the combustion engine of the first automobile. Silliman’s report changed the world because it made
possible an entirely new form of transportation and helped turn the United States into an industrial
superpower. But back to the future.
After completion of the first well (by Edwin Drake, the self-styled Colonel Drake), the surrounding areas were immediately leased and extensive drilling took place. Crude oil output in the
United States increased from approximately 2,000 barrels (1 barrel, bbl = 42 US gal = 35 Imperial
gal = 5.61 ft 3 = 158.8 L) in 1859 to nearly 3,000,000 bbl in 1863 and approximately 10,000,000 bbl
in 1874. In 1861, the first cargo of oil, contained in wooden barrels, was sent across the Atlantic
to London (United Kingdom), and by the 1870s, refineries, tank cars, and pipelines had become
characteristic features of the industry, mostly through the leadership of Standard Oil that was
founded by John D. Rockefeller (Johnson, 1997). Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth
century the United States and Russia were the two areas in which the most striking developments
took place.
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the two major producers were the United States and
Russia, but supplies of oil were also being obtained from Indonesia, Rumania, and Mexico. During
the 1920s and 1930s, attention was also focused on other areas for oil production, such as the
United States, the Middle East, and Indonesia. At this time, European and African countries were
not considered major oil-producing areas. In the post-1945 era, Middle Eastern countries continued
to rise in importance because of new discoveries of vast reserves. The United States, although continuing to be the biggest producer, was also the major consumer and thus was not a major exporter
History and Terminology
Silliman imagined he suffered from lethargy, vertigo, nervous disorders, and whatever else he could
think of. In common with other invalids, he regularly visited health spas like Saratoga Springs, New
York (at his mother’s expense), and he knew that such places were only for the rich. So his meeting
with Priestley moved him to decide to make the mineral-water cure available to the common people
(also at his mother’s expense).
In 1809, he set up his business with an apothecary named Darling, assembled apparatus to
impregnate 50 bottles of water a day, and opened two soda-water fountains in New York City,
one at the Tontine Coffee House and one at the City Hotel. The decor was hugely expensive
(a lot of gilt), and they only sold 70 glasses on opening day. But Darling was optimistic. A friend
of Priestley’s visited and declared that drinking the waters would prevent yellow fever. In spite of
Silliman’s hopes that the business would make him rich, by the end of the summer the endeavor
was a disastrous flop. It would be many more decades before the soda fountain became a cultural
icon in America!
Silliman cast around for some other way to make money. Two years earlier, he had analyzed the
contents of a meteor that had fallen on Weston, Connecticut, and this research had enhanced his
scientific reputation. So he decided to offer his services (as a geologist) to mining companies. His
degree had been in law: He was as qualified for geology as he was to be Yale professor of chemistry. The geology venture prospered, and by 1820 Silliman was in great demand for field trips, on
which he took his son, Benjamin, Jr. When he retired in 1853, his son took up where he had left
off, as professor of general and applied chemistry at Yale (this time, with a degree in the subject).
After writing a number of chemistry books and being elected to the National Academy of Sciences,
Benjamin, Jr., took up lucrative consulting posts, as his father had done, with the Boston City Water
Company and various mining enterprises.
In 1855, one of these asked him to research and report on some mineral samples from the new
Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company. After several months work, Benjamin, Jr., announced that about
50% of the black tar-like substance could be distilled into first-rate burning oils (which would eventually be called kerosene and paraffin) and that an additional 40% of what was left could be distilled
for other purposes, such as lubrication and gaslight. On the basis of this single report, a company
was launched to finance the drilling of the Drake Well at Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, and in 1857 it
became the first well to produce petroleum. It would be another 50 years before Silliman’s reference to other fractions available from the oil through extra distillation would provide gasoline for
the combustion engine of the first automobile. Silliman’s report changed the world because it made
possible an entirely new form of transportation and helped turn the United States into an industrial
superpower. But back to the future.
After completion of the first well (by Edwin Drake, the self-styled Colonel Drake), the surrounding areas were immediately leased and extensive drilling took place. Crude oil output in the
United States increased from approximately 2,000 barrels (1 barrel, bbl = 42 US gal = 35 Imperial
gal = 5.61 ft 3 = 158.8 L) in 1859 to nearly 3,000,000 bbl in 1863 and approximately 10,000,000 bbl
in 1874. In 1861, the first cargo of oil, contained in wooden barrels, was sent across the Atlantic
to London (United Kingdom), and by the 1870s, refineries, tank cars, and pipelines had become
characteristic features of the industry, mostly through the leadership of Standard Oil that was
founded by John D. Rockefeller (Johnson, 1997). Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth
century the United States and Russia were the two areas in which the most striking developments
took place.
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the two major producers were the United States and
Russia, but supplies of oil were also being obtained from Indonesia, Rumania, and Mexico. During
the 1920s and 1930s, attention was also focused on other areas for oil production, such as the
United States, the Middle East, and Indonesia. At this time, European and African countries were
not considered major oil-producing areas. In the post-1945 era, Middle Eastern countries continued
to rise in importance because of new discoveries of vast reserves. The United States, although continuing to be the biggest producer, was also the major consumer and thus was not a major exporter